Jay was walking behind Red, with Blue and Heavy at his side.
Sweeper was somewhere further behind, practicing its role as rear guard. Hopefully.
The strange item the girl had given him, the [Guidance], had changed since he bled over it. A small red line appeared and pointed from the centre of the black polished stone to the outside.
It kept pointing in one direction no matter which way he turned it, much like a compass.
Since it said it was location locked to 'Luna', Jay believed it was leading him to a person or place called Luna. and coincidentally it was also the direction he was going in.
Well, it pointed south-south-east, but not too far off-track as he was heading directly south.
He decided to make a decision about whether or not to go to 'Luna' once the girl woke up; he would have liked to prepare more adequately for a long stay in the wilderness, and perhaps there were supplies at 'Luna'.
Jay assumed it to be a hidden temple of some sort, perhaps a sort of religious enclave, as he believe Losla was the last notable village before the wilderness began.
As for the skeletons who were not with Jay, Dark was still playing dead at the base of a tree near the mushroom desert, while Lamp and Handy were out hunting.
The roots of the trees below their feet were still like an impenetrable lattice, so the helminth was still waiting to reunite with its master as it followed below the ground.
As Jay walked he was still wondering if he should bring the girl along or dump her somewhere, perhaps near a stream or waterfull in this forest so she would at least have a water source.
He watched the noon-leather blanket on Red's shoulder occasionally as he travelled.
“Hmm... if she has some kind of movement ability and escapes it could be bad... but who's to say she won't simply attack me once she wakes up and recovers enough strength?”
“I could tie her up but then she might try to attack or flee because of that.” he pursed his lips, “If I do restrain her, she'll probably think I'm some weirdo in the forest, but I guess It's the safest thing to do to protect myself.”
Jay nodded, “I suppose what she thinks doesn't matter anyway. I'm a necromancer. My reputation couldn't get much worse.” he chuckled.
After walking for a few hours more, Jay go an exp notification.
The hunt was successful.
[4 Exp]
It was already mid afternoon, and after walking this long he had been pondering whether or not to have the hunting skeletons come back and carry his throne.
However, now that they had a fresh catch, they were returning; Jay would ride the throne again soon, and he was looking forward to it.
Finding a large fat root of a tree, he sat down and decided to rest for a while, recovering his energy and doing some crafting.
The item he planned to craft? Well it was quite simple. Bone shackles.
First, he got Red to tenderly lay the girl in the blanket next to the tree.
She probably would have woken up after being moved, so Jay waited about thirty minutes before trying anything, hoping that she would be in a deeper sleep by then.
The skeletons with the prey were coming back soon so he could have waited longer anyway, but he wanted to get this done before they could get here.
“If I bind her hands, she will be able to run, but if I bind her legs she will be able to attack... though I can take a hit with my high health, so even if she did attack I could just step away and let the skeletons finish her off - ankle bindings it is.” he nodded.
He could have bound her hands with shackles too, but there was a higher chancer of her waking up.
Jay planned to simply bind her legs with a mass of bone, but it would have taken time and there was a chance she would realize while he did it, so it wasn't ideal.
Before committing to the decision, he first he checked his inventory, hoping to find some rope he may have uncaringly grabbed from his house.
Soon he did find something though, something he had since forgotten about - something he had not expected to use for such a purpose as this.
[Duresome Chain]
He had either of them. These old chains were originally used to tie down the ancient abominations in the helvetian research prison, so their strength was unquestionable.
The chain was thick and bulky, each ring link only a little smaller than Jay's fist - much too sturdy for the task at hand, but it would have to do.
Holding the thick chain, Jay tried to not feel like a creep as he walked over to the blanket and lifted it up near her feet. Thankfully, she was in a deep sleep and was still recovering so she didn't wake up.
As he brought the chains closer, he was glad as she wore tight black pants with slender black boots; It would be easier to tie the chains around.
Plus, since she wasn't wearing a dress or skirt of some sort he could not be accused of trying to take a peek.
Jay covertly and gently wrapped the heavy chain around her legs, but encountered a problem as he had to tie it off somehow. They were too thick to make a knot, and she would be able to untie it even if he did make a knot anyway.
Of course, the solution was simple.
He held the chains with one hand and with the other he held his necrotic gauntlet out. He materialized bones in his grasp and slowly lay them onto the chains, doing it one by one so there was no noisy clattering of bones.
Once he had enough, he simply channeled mana through the small pile of bones and melded it around two ends of the chain, creating something which was more like a seal than a lock.
During the process and unknown to Jay, his skeletons were standing around him, watching curiously.
Red, Blue and Heavy all seemed like they were in awe as the bones melted together and bound the chain together.
As the seal was made, Jay dispersed his mana and it solidified.
The ancient chains were wrapped tightly around her legs and sealed with bone; Jay smiled as he stood up, pleased with his work.
He thought it was quite fitting for a necromancer. Much better than some boring rope.
Jay closed up the blanket again, with a little peace of mind, knowing she wouldn't be able to run.
“Now, once they get back I'll butcher some more fresh meat, then... actually, I should teach the skeletons to butcher.” he thought for a moment, but changed his mind, “Hmm, it'll take too much time. Perhaps after I've lost the mage hunters.” he nodded.
Jay looked forward to the day when his skeletons would wake him up with a pleasant scent as they served him breakfast in bed.
For now though, they only knew how to cook... barely.
“Anyway, I'll butcher the meat when Lamp and Handy get back; then Red, Blue, Lamp and Sweeper can carry my throne.”
Jay's eyes hovered over the blanket and lingered for a moment.
“Handy and Heavy can carry the girl... I suppose I should call her by her name instead of 'the girl'” he thought, “I wonder what Asra's class is.”
Late into the afternoon and Jay was already marching again. After a short rest he decided to keep travelling.
His energy had recovered so he thought he may as well use it, and he really only wanted to stop to restrain Asra anyway.
While walking he checked the mark he placed on the mage hunter in the desert, but it had not moved much, so he felt like he was only getting further and further away from them. Safer.
As he walked through the ancient forest, a smile appeared on his face as he sensed his hunters draw near, and soon he could see them marching through the trees carrying another prey.
This time it was also skinned, while the fur patch on Lamp's back had grown slightly bigger.
Jay had expected there to be another separate patch of fur on its back; two different colours - but it seemed like the new coat had mixed the two furs completely, creating a new single colour.
The combination of fur had created a dark brown-red colour.
Almost like a dark rust. It looked soft and warm.
A part of Jay wanted to stroke Lamp's fur, but another part of him thought there was a chance it was crawling with fleas and other parasites, and he already had more than enough of those quietly living in his arm.
“I guess this animal had red fur?” he thought, looking at Lamp then at the corpse on Handy's shoulder.
Jay looked for a place to set up a small butchering table. On some thicker roots of course. There were no other options.
However he had an idea, and his solution of course, were his skeletons.
Jay pulled out his bone crucible and sat the corpse on top of it.
He had the skeletons circle around and hold up the crucible, and it became like a butchering table. A small one.
It did have some ash marks on it from when he used it as a campfire holder, but he wasn't going to complain as he got to work, carving it up.
The skeletons with minds watched the process, learning from Jay even as they held the table up.
Of course, it was not as exciting to them as seeing bones being melded - at least it seemed like that to Jay anyway.
The corpse seemed like some sort of long rabbit, though it was hard to tell since it had no skin or fur on its body.
Still, it looked like quite appetizing meat, and even though it had been travelling through the forest for a few hours on the back of a skeleton it was still fresh.
“Another... two days of rations?” Jay thought while adding the meat to his inventory, but then glanced at the blanket with Asra in it.
“Hmm. One day.”
After extracting all the good cuts of meat, Jay used his necrotic gauntlet to tenderly pull the bones out and add them to his stockpile.
The leftovers on the crucible were mostly bits of cartilage and some fat which had not survived the journey through the forest as it turned yellow. Not to mention the innards which Jay had already scraped out and dumped on the forest floor; they were soon reunited with the other leftovers as Jay tipped over the crucible.
Something caught Jay's attention as he stored the meat away and let the remaining blood and juices drip off the crucible.
“Hm?” he glanced at the blanket with Asra inside.
He thought he saw it move, and more than just simple breathing.
“Asra?” he asked, albeit gently.
He didn't want to wake her up in case she was still asleep.
No movement. Nothing.
With a shrug, Jay stored his bone crucible away in his gauntlet and pulled out the spears along with his throne.
In a matter of movements, he was relaxingly smiling as he was sitting up on it, carried by his skeletons once more.
Handy carried Asra with some effort, but Heavy helped to relieve some of the burden.
The party marched through the forest, just a little slower than jogging speed. After a few hours the forest was getting dark again as the sun started to fall on the horizon.
Normally, Jay would have been fine with sitting on his throne in the dark while the skeletons carried him, but now he had Asra to look out for.
Taking out a luminous orb, he charged it with some mana and held it on his lap. The gentle blue glow radiated from his throne and was thankfully bright enough to reach Asra.
Every now and then he would glance at the blanket, making sure that the smaller skeletons had not dropped her or let the blanket come undone.
Pulling out the [Guidance] he glanced at it again. The red line still had not changed direction.
“I wonder if I should set up camp or not...” he thought, then glanced at Asra, “She's been sleeping since I found her so maybe some actual rest on flat ground, undisturbed, would be beneficial.”
Jay himself wanted to rest again. The occasional wobble of the throne was not good for his sleep.
“Alright, next time I find another good spot we'll camp. I have meat to cook anyway.”
